The net splashes down into the water. A dozen fifth-graders from Heritage Elementary School peer carefully over the stern of the Robert G. Brownlee, watching as the net drags out behind the boat.
As the boat chugs in lazy circles in Broad Slough, the instructor talks about the fish they might catch. The students fidget while they listen, waiting for the signal to haul the net back in.
The sun is shining on the Delta, and the day is surprisingly warm for January. Reeds along the shoreline wave gently in the cool, slightly salty breeze, and in the distance, windmills slowly spin.
The fog has cleared away for now.
A few minutes later, the instructor gives the signal and the kids hurry — not running — to grab the ropes, ready to see what they’ve caught.
“Are you ready?” the instructor asks.
The children cheer.
“When I say, ‘Heave,’ you say, ‘Ho!’” she says. “Heave!”
“Ho!” the students yell, laughing and hauling on the ropes.
“Heave!”
“Ho!”
Slowly, the distance between the boat’s stern and the net trailing behind it shrinks, and the students’ anticipation rises.
What treasure would they haul up from under the water?
On January 19, 2015, a group of Lodi elementary, middle and high school students set off aboard the Robert G. Brownlee, a research vessel of the Marine Science Institute, for an afternoon of discovery on the California Delta. They also had the opportunity to visit the Isenberg Sandhill Crane Reserve outside of Lodi and the historic Chinese-American town of Locke. Read the full story at the Lodi News-Sentinel.